Al Jazeera Defaced by Pro-Government Syrian Hackers

Syrian hackers, presumably backed by the government, hacked the website of Al Jazeera, defacing the site and placing a statement condemning the news organization's coverage of the Syrian uprisings.

The actual website was not hacked, rather a CDN used by Al Jazeera was breached, the organization said. A group calling itself al-Rashedon claimed the attack.

"During the cyber attack that lasted several hours, visitors to Al Jazeera sites were redirected to a web page with a Syrian flag," Al Jazeera said.

"[...] the attack did not compromise Al Jazeera's web server directly, but a third-party service provider that distributes the station's online content worldwide," it added.

It's tough being a fair and responsible news organization. Maybe that's why there aren't that many of them around. It's especially harder when the countries you're dealing with would love nothing better than have the press just spit out their press releases.

Al Jazeera should know, it's been the target of plenty of criticism and plenty of attacks over the years. Yet, the satellite TV news station distinguished itself, especially during the Arab Spring uprising, with its coverage.

It's no surprise then that it's been the target of an attack meant to spot the spread of information about the horrors committed by the Syrian leadership in their desperate attempt at holding on to power.

Or as the "hackers" put it, for the support for "armed terrorist groups and spreading lies and fabricated news." It's not the first time pro-government Syrian hackers attacked the site. Earlier this year, the group, Syrian Electronic Army, hacked the site. 

This summer, the organization's Twitter account was hijacked by another group. Qatar, where Al Jazeera is located, along with Saudi Arabia, have been critical of the Syrian power and are supporting the rebels.